Father's son remembers with heavier heart

CADILLAC - While growing up, Dec. 7 always marked a day of remembrance for Bill Tencza's family.

This year the Cadillac Area Chamber of Commerce president found the day especially bittersweet. His father, Joseph J. Tencza, a Navy veteran of the attack at Pearl Harbor, died Nov. 26. He was 88.

"Dec. 7 was a day of deep respect in our house," Tencza said. "It was a day we paid attention to even as kids."

Joseph J. Tencza enlisted in the U.S. Navy in March 1939 and on Dec. 7, 1941 was stationed aboard the USS Honolulu, a light cruiser docked at the Naval Station in Pearl Harbor just southeast of battleship row. Bill Tencza said his father was a signalman on the ship and stood on deck as the first wave of Japanese fighters attacked.

"My father up to a handful of years ago would not talk to me about it," Tencza said. As a boy, there was a "tremendous fascination" about it.

Inside his office on the wall hangs Time magazine's cover about the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor as well as the USS Honolulu's "Plan of the Day" for Dec. 7.

Tencza grew up in Inkster outside of Detroit and lived in a neighborhood where, because of his father's link to that historic day, there was a touch of notoriety. His dad handled the attention with reserve. Each Pearl Harbor Day his father could be found in thought.

"There was always a lot of prayer and thoughtfulness and the gratitude of surviving," he said. His dad's thoughts were for those who died on that day.

His father attended the annual reunions of the USS Honolulu crew for many years. Sometimes Bill or his older brother, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Joseph Tencza, would accompany him.

"These guys never even talked about the war and never, ever talked about Pearl Harbor," Tencza said.

Tencza's brother was stationed at Hickam Field in Hawaii for a number of years. His father flew out to visit the family on different occasions but only once ventured to return to Pearl Harbor.

"It really bothered him," Tencza said.

Battle reports for the USS Honolulu show it was in the thick of the battle during the Japanese attack. With guns from the battleship New Orleans, the Honolulu crews were credited with turning back a 10-plane attack during an early wave of bombings. Later in the battle a Japanese plane targeted the ship. With the cruiser's guns blazing the plane dropped a bomb that exploded through a dock to the side of its hull, causing moderate damage. Electrical operations were affected.

In the early 1990s, Tencza's father started to talk a little about the battle.

"He talked as much about Dec. 8 as Dec. 7," Tencza said. "He said the smell of burning oil never left him." He also talked about the body recovery operation on Dec. 8.

Following repairs, the USS Honolulu would go on to operations in the Pacific and sink a Japanese destroyer as well as participate in the battle for the Solomon Islands. In all, the ship was awarded eight battle stars.

Tencza is unsure how long his dad was assigned to the ship.

Joseph Tencza was a native of Pennsylvania and in the Navy met a friend from Detroit who introduced him to his future wife, Marguerite. He wrote to her just days before the attack and again after the attack. Bill Tencza views the letters as a family treasure.

"It's a young guy in love a couple of days before - and then his world is turned upside down," Tencza said. "My mother was from Detroit and she was staying on the West Coast."

The couple got married on Sept. 4, 1943. His father was discharged from the Navy on Oct. 11, 1945.

After discharge, the Tenczas settled down in the Detroit area. Joseph worked in the automotive industry for the rest of his life.

Tencza said this past week carried more emotion than earlier years.

"This year it's a little more difficult because of the proximity to his death," he said. In years past, friends who knew his dad would give Bill Tencza a message.

"They would say, 'When you talk to your dad tonight, tell him thanks for serving.'"

This year there were e-mail messages for the son, friends encouraging him through some somber days.

Tencza continues thankful to be his father's son - and to know some of the men his father served with.

"We were very proud to be associated with him and to know those brave men."

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